06 Nov 06 Build Up & Let Down

There’s been a few changes on the Tim front recently. A new job, 2 new
cats, and one ever-present sleeping problem. I’ll fill folks in more on
the new job and cats later.

Now, let’s talk about the build up & let down of the sleep study.

I have not been able to sleep well for some time now. It has
progressively worsened. Even when I was in top shape, I would be wiped
out and could barley stand. Now when I go to sleep, I wake up more
tired then when I went to bed. It rather defeats the purpose of sleep.
I fight going to sleep now because I know it will be of no help. Rather
annoying really.

Leah mentioned to me a while back after she got a sleep study that I
should see about getting one too. I snore a lot when I sleep and have
spasms too when sleeping. That could be the things that are keeping me
from sleeping. Makes sense really. Sleep apnea will make you feel tired
and drained and sleep doesn’t seem to help at all.

I went to the doctor and he mentioned that my airway looks a bit
smaller than normal so that could be a factor. He also mentioned when
folks get put on a cpap machine to help them sleep, the difference is
striking. This fact was confirmed by my Uncle Mike who mentioned that
using the machine was like night and day.

Needless to say, I was excited. I wanted to actually be able to sleep
well at night and wake up refreshed for once. I scheduled a sleep study
to get evaluated and setup with a cpap machine. That study took place
last night. This morning, I felt horribly let down.

I went into the study last night extremely tired. I was exhausted on
Saturday and went to take a nap at 7pm. That nap turned in to a full on
sleep and I woke up around 6am on Sunday. I was still tired. More tired
then I was when I went to take the bloody nap. Because I had the sleep
study, I had to stay awake during the day. That was a big battle for
me. It’s hard to stay awake when your entire body is screaming to
sleep. Somehow, I managed to make to the study.

I was really excited to have the study done. The tech wiring me up was
very friendly and had me try out a cpap machine when I was awake just
to try it.  Wow. When I had the machine on it was so much easier to
breath. My nose always clogs no matter what I do, and it was amazing
being able to breath that deeply without having to force the air in. I
had it on for a few minutes and I could feel myself relaxing at the
ease of breathing it had granted me.

Though I had to take it off before going to bed. They need to measure
how you sleep without the mask to see if you qualify for one. I forgot
to ask what makes someone qualify for one. So wired up I tried to get
to sleep expecting them to wake me up in the middle of the night to
tell me I qualified to hook me up to the wonder that is the cpap
machine.

Getting to sleep took a while. This was the worst time to have a
migraine, so of course one shows its damn head. I tried to get to sleep
on my own, but that was futile. Finally I asked for some pain killers
and after about an hour after taking them, they kicked in. I was
finally off to sleep.

The tech then wakes me up hours later. Not to fit me with the cpap
machine, but to wake me up and tell me the study is over. I made it
through the night and didn’t qualify for the machine. I did have some
apnea, but it was apparently mild and did not qualify me for a machine.
Though over the years, the tech said it could get worse and then I
would require a machine. With my current state, the insurance most
likely would not cover the machine.

Bloody hell. That was the worse thing to wake up to. All this build up
to get the cpap machine to only find out I don’t bloody qualify for
one. Then what is making my sleep so crappy? Why do I wake up so
freaking tired? I’ve tried just about everything I can find and nothing
works. When I have been thin, fat, in shape, out of shape, on a regular
schedule, taking sleep medicine, trying to relax a lot before bed,
nothing works! I always feel tired. So hearing that I don’t qualify
really hurt. I’m sure the tech saw I was really disappointed. He
mentioned some ways I could try to find a cpap machine on my own. I
might be able to use Leah’s, but I am sure she needs it more.

What makes the results even more disappointing was the nights sleep was
not even close to a normal nights sleep. It was much shorter due to the
migraine and my nose was actually not stuffy for once (happens only
about twice a month it seems). I hope there will be a follow up study
once they analyze my results more, but I don’t want to get my hopes up.

I’ll have to wait to the follow-up appointment and ask the doc what options I have open. Something has to be able to help. :-/

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